The State Firefighter Championships got underway in Launceston on Saturday, and will continue for the rest of the weekend.

Tasmania Fire Service's fire brigade competition president Brett Fazackerley said juniors were the future of the fire brigade. He said it was very encouraging to have so many young people want to be involved.

"Having our junior teams here also makes it much more of a family-friendly event," he said.

"They are our future, so those 20 teams are going to potentially be our firefighters leading into the future."

About 20 junior teams are taking part in the championships.

In total there were about 40 teams that took part in representing their brigade from across the state, including 19 senior teams. Between 300 and 500 firefighters are expected to compete over the weekend. Mr Fazackerley said the numbers had increased on last year's event.

"This is not one of the biggest years we've had but this year I think there is an increase of about six teams on last year, with seven in the juniors," he said.

The annual event gives the firefighters a chance to refine and practice their skills ahead of the bushfire season.

"A lot of these competitions and the events they run are designed around the skills they require when they're actually on the ground fighting fires," Mr Fazackerley said.

The competition also works as a networking event for the firefighters. Mr Fazackerley said it was important to have those friendships because more strike teams are continually forming more regularly.

"They're from all around the state, so they don't meet each other on a regular basis," he said.

"But quite often they will be needed to go on an intra or interstate deployment, so if you can form those friendships on days like this with people you don't normally work with, that's positive."

While the juniors are encouraged to have fun, the senior division tests get "very competitive", Mr Fazackerley said, with the tasks not as easy as they look, many of which he described as complex.

The championships continue on Sunday at Invermay Park. The public is welcome to attend.

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